Category Archives: LEGO

You’d probably expect a lot of the posts on a LEGO website like The Brothers Brick to be about LEGO, and you’d be right. If you’re browsing this page, you might want to consider narrowing what you’re looking for by checking out categories like “Space” and “Castle.” We’re sure there’s something here that’ll fascinate and amaze you.

An immersive garage to get your landspeeder serviced

When not writing articles about fine LEGO creations or taking care of my young children, I crawl down to my basement man-cave and build things out of LEGO. Yes, I am a bit like the dad in The LEGO Movie; and also yes, my toddlers ignore my prohibitions on touching the bricks. But some things survive the attack of sticky little fingers, and I am pleased to present the readers of The Brothers Brick with my latest.

As my alter-ego, Henjin_Quilones, I built and shared this landspeeder repair shop as part of an annual Star Wars competition on Eurobricks. Run by a Twi’lek named Veenac’ebla, the garage on Nar Shaddaa services many types of speeders, often providing them with upgrades to boost the specs. Three speeders, all loosely inspired by real-world cars, sit in the shop for repairs. The red and the grey speeders hearken to classic muscle cars (and to the M-68 from Solo), while the dark blue was inspired by curvy sports cars.

See more of this shady landspeeder garage

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Off the grid to find Akira

The prototypical LEGO piece is the 2×4 rectangular brick. It has ninety-degree angles on every side, and using it, together with most other LEGO bricks, one can build things with lots of right angles. Unless you are Thorsten Bonsch, that is, and you are building off the grid, setting your scene at a cool forty-five degree angle. The greebled elements that comprise the science fiction setting, all the pipes and valves and whatnot, are a lovely backdrop to an epic showdown between Tetsuo, a character from Akira, and one of the authorities trying to stop him. I hope Tetsuo can avoid those rockets firing at him!

There is nothing that fancy going on in the sloped section, though I do enjoy the ubiquitous fence piece making an appearance; it is just a masterfully arranged assortment of textured elements and repetitive piping. The cumulative effect of it, however, is brilliant. But the platform is what catches my eye. The yellow and black striping is excellent, and the various subtle offsets of the grey surface are gorgeous. Now, I don’t know much about Akira, but if this creation is anything to go by, it must be awesome!

Classic flight plan hanging around

If you love LEGO flying vehicles, chances are that you may have come across the models of Maelven. His ability to switch between slick renditions of Star Wars vehicles and classic planes is beautiful. It always makes me wonder what he’s going to come out with next. His Blind Man’s Bluff Hangar is full of fine elemental compositions. The plane by itself looks great, with one wing folded up and step ladder at the ready.

This is a new rendition of Maelven’s previous Hawler Sea Fury T.20, a LEGO plane he has been refining since 2012. Accompanying it are a host of other fine details, from his beasty Ratrod to the stripped fuselage and workshop fixtures. However, my eyes kept being drawn towards the top of this superb diorama to take in the roof trusses of this classic hanger. A seamless combination of Technic connectors, liftarms and Technic bricks achieving a specific form such as this always makes me happy. Between the truss and the rigid hose conduit, this fantastic scene is well-framed.

The kids aren’t alright

Stranger Things is a show where, thanks to absentee parenting, children spend more quality time with horrific Demogorgons than their own parents. (That’s the 80s for you!) As a result, the kids often have to take matters into their own hands. Case in point; that one time Eleven had to flip a van with her magical nosebleed powers. See, their parents are so absent, she doesn’t even have a normal name like Jessica or Brittany. Still, that doesn’t stop her from being an absolute badass and the kind of kid I would have totally hung out with in my youth. Builder Hachiroku24 replicated this scene nicely with a brick-built bicycle and a neat effect that makes the van seem as if it were levitating.

Speaking from experience, brick-built text on a smallish surface can be a tricky endeavor but this builder did a great job with the fictional town name blazoned across the side of the van. This creation is enough to turn anyone’s frown upside-down. See what I did there? If that didn’t make you smile, maybe our review of set 75810 The Upside Down will!

Stressed? Have a cup of tea

Builder Eero Okkonen is no stranger to The Brothers Brick. His large-scale figures are something of a legend around here, often featuring warriors, wizards, and sci-fi women. Today, he brings us a samurai warrior, joined by a maiko, or apprentice geisha sharing tea. He beautifully captures both the modest down-turned visage of the maiko and the tired pride of the old warrior. What makes this build unusual for Eero is that the stunning figures are set in a lush landscape, which features a blooming garden complete with Zen Buddhist shrines and a reflection pool.

I love the way he has used the texture of the undersides of 1×2 plates for the samurai’s armor, along with the decorative flowers stuck to them. The elbow brick in light bluish grey is used to good effect in both the facial hair of the samurai and the three legged shrine in the corner. You also don’t want to miss the golden chainsaw blade used as a hair ornament on the maiko! The whole scene is so tranquil that I wish I could go there and take part. Now where did I put my tea cup?

Your lightsabers will make a fine addition to my collection

Each installment in the Star Wars cinematic saga has introduced new villains for audiences to obsess over, from Darth Vader’s first rasping breath in A New Hope to Darth Maul’s devil-like countenance in The Phantom Menace. Revenge of the Sith was no exception, although General Grievous first appeared in the 2004 animated series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Dissatisfied with the official 75112 General Grievous LEGO set, Marcin Otreba has built a stunningly detailed model of the wheezy cyborg commander of the Separatists’ droid army with some truly inspired designs.

By far, my favorite features are the arms which, like his on-screen counterpart, can separate into two slender but no less nimble and deadly appendages. I also love the translucent body cavity housing his vital organs. You’ll also want to take a closer look at the fingers, which are built using B-1 battle droid heads, of course.

This voodoo panther is no bonehead. Or is it?

The LEGO Bionicle line may have ended in 2016, but that hasn’t stopped fans from expanding on the theme. Case in point: Alex Mertens brings us a sleek version of the Rahi beast Muaka, inspired by a deep cut of Bionicle lore. I’m a fan of the smooth curves that give this model a sense of feline grace. The splash of color from the orange hose and lime green claws adds visual interest against the blue of the Hero Factory armor and Bionicle shoulder armor plating.

Speaking of that armor, we recently featured another re-imagining of Muaka that kept the yellow highlights from the Muaka & Kane-Ra set from 2001. Alex has gone one step further, taking the blue color from a Bone-Heads of Voodoo Island prototype that likely lead to Muaka! This early prototype can be seen in Christian Faber’s demo footage.

Chugging around the bend

I have a soft spot for collaborative LEGO train displays because they played a fundamental role in inspiring me to “build outside the box.” Because of this, I couldn’t help but smile when I saw Steffen Rau’s layout module. I love the curves of the track, mountainside tunnels, and wooded landscaping. It feels like a wonderful place to explore, especially with dozens of minifigures enjoying various camping activities.

See more images of this carefully crafted train layout

A countryside cottage to call home

17th Century Europe was a period rife with change, from feudal powers to the birthing stages of parliament. It also brought with it a decline in houses constructed of wood, giving way to stone and brick-built abodes. Benjamin Calvetti has replicated this style with stunning class, and his English Cottage is jam-packed with lovely details. The continuity in stone work, from the bordering fence line to the walls of the cottage, speak more of the local quarry than they do of a random handful of LEGO bricks.

See more pictures of this quaint cottage, including a fully furnished interior!

Another shrimp for the barbie

The Penaeus monodon, otherwise known as the Tiger Prawn, is native to the Indo-Pacific region. It’s also cultivated for food consumption all over the world. Jason Cichon has done an excellent job at bringing these LEGO marine crustacea to life….Well, one of them at least. Seafood connoisseurs will recognise the orange prawn on the bottom, largely due to their understanding of what they look like after having been cooked.

His mix of modified plates and 2×1 Wedge’s in the abdomen creates smooth articulation within the build. This combination allows the pleura to sit snugly against each other. A flexible spike minifig weapon has been used for the rostrum while, further down, the leg assemblies have been topped off with small red horns. In the end, the part that brings this model into the realm of realism is the flexible hose with connection ends as the antenna. The colours employed throughout are so incredibly fitting, I’m sure Jason stood around a barbeque in the summer quite a few times.

LEGO 75936 Jurassic Park: T. rex Rampage designer video [Video]

Earlier this week LEGO pulled the wraps off the biggest Jurassic World set yet, a throwback to the 1993 classic movie that started the franchise, 75936 Jurassic Park: T. rex Rampage. Today LEGO is giving fans an inside look at the set with a video interview with Mark Stafford, the set’s designer.

With a whopping 3,120 pieces, the set includes the largest dinosaur LEGO’s ever created. The set will retail for US $249.99 | CAN $299.99 | UK £219.99 beginning June 19th for LEGO VIPs, with general availability beginning July 1st.

Watch the full video below, and look out for our full review of this set soon.

Go under the sea with the Royal Navy Octonaut

The year is 1859, and the British Navy is looking for Atlantis! Builder Paddy Bricksplitter has captured this historic moment of discovery in a detail-rich LEGO scene. Based on the columns and statue, our diver may have indeed found Atlantis. Let’s hope he’s also enjoying the rest of the view while he’s down there.

The Octonaut delivers a solid steampunk aesthetic without resorting to unnecessary embellishments. The tubing along the suit’s arms suggests a very real-world pneumatic solution for grip-strength at the ocean floor. Providing a nice contrast to the gold and brown, black rubber tires do double duty as weights and gaskets.

As cool as the diver is, the real highlight of this build for me is the innovative part usage on the sea floor. Not content with just the LEGO-standard fish and crab, Paddy has brought in Friends Accessories, Technic gears, a street-sweeper brush, and at least three types of minifigure hair. LEGO food items also feature prominently, with cupcakes galore, upward pointing carrots and lime ice cream scoops. And just look at that jellyfish!